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Ladies, Don’t Let It All Hang Out

We, as a society, have become more and more entrenched in the social media frenzy- both in our professional and personal circles. I have had always made it a habit to keep those circles separate, especially since I have spent most of my time in corporate America and the politics were much different than those of ours. I guess it boiled down to I didn’t want my colleagues or business partners to see my personal “activities”. Now in the auto industry, my philosophy on intermingling those circles has changed- and realize “everyone’s doing it” (as quoted by the great Will Ferrell in Old School after he was caught by his wife streaking). I think for colleagues and partners to see you in a different light allows them to get to know you on a deeper level and helps grow your relationship based on activities other than those solely related to business.

If you are like me and have chosen to combine your circles, I think there should be a checklist of sorts of what NOT to do (especially for us females out there) around the messages (posts/tweets/whatever…) being sent using any social media source. I have seen some of the most outlandish things as I’ve gotten more socially entrenched myself. I am not sure why someone would even want to (or think it’s remotely appropriate) share with their B.F.F. (Best Friends Forever) quite honestly.

My simple checklist for my “girls” out there would look something like this:

Keep pictures clean and classy

Keep your shirts on

Avoid exposing too much “personal” (anything you may not want to discuss in the Monday morning meeting)

See, was that really that hard? It’s all about creating a positive presence so you can continue to earn the respect of the people in both of your circles. I’m not recommended changing who you are or producing a false image of yourself , but always keep in mind who’s reading, listening, watching. Share things that are brilliant that may help or benefit others (not necessarily how to do at-home Brazilian bikini wax on your boyfriend) but something you’d feel comfortable reading from someone that you follow in social media. “Be polite, be constructive; don’t be offensive”.

Carey Spillert is a Sales Solutions Manager at iMagicLab. She has recently come back to the industry after years of being a corporate powerhouse. You can follow Carey @theCRMprincess on Twitter and find her onLinkedIn.